Method and system for call center screening

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are provided for call center screening that enable a network service provider to dynamically control service request traffic directed to selected service centers. An Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN) service is configured to intercept calls originating from calling parties and directed to trigger numbers designated for processing predetermined service requests. Depending upon the trigger number, the AIN may play an announcement asking a calling party to designate the service requested. Following a calling party&#39;s valid response, a second announcement is played asking the calling party to select the type of service associated with the first response. Depending upon the calling party&#39;s responses and calling party&#39;s location, the AIN may route the call to selected service centers, in order to control the traffic to overloaded service centers.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to telecommunication networks and, moreparticularly, to a method and system for intercepting calls for selectednetwork services and routing the calls to predetermined call centers.

2. Background of the Art

In present network service environments, customers may orderAsynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and Integrated ServicesDigital Network (ISDN) service simply by calling designated telephonenumbers associated with a service provider, and requesting the desiredservice. Generally, separate telephone numbers were designated forspecific types of customers requesting ADSL service. Residential ADSLservice was associated with one telephone number, while business ADSLservice was associated with another number.

As the popularity and demand for ADSL service increased, the businessnumber associated with ADSL service became widely distributed.Eventually, customers requesting residential ADSL service were callingthe business ADSL numbers more frequently than the residential ADSLtelephone number. As a result, the Business Service Centers (BSCs)handling these service requests were receiving excess traffic, whichaffected the processing speed of the requests. At the same time whilethe BSCs were overloaded, residential sales centers associated withhandling residential ADSL service calls were being underutilized.

Although conventional techniques for handling service requests enablecustomers to differentiate between the types of service they would liketo receive, the methods in which the service requests are handled havedrastic affects on the systems implementing these methods. Themis-management of service requests affect not only the traffic load ofspecific areas of the provider's network, but have businessrepercussions as well. Delays in service request processing have atendency to frustrate potential customers because of the extended timetaken to process service requests routed to overloaded service centers.Frustrated customers have tendencies to look for services elsewhere whenthe process for obtaining an available service from a provider is deemedtedious or lengthy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore desirable to have a method and system that willalleviate excess traffic to selected sales centers at the same timereducing the processing time customers have to wait for service requestresponses.

Methods, systems and articles of manufacture consistent with the presentinvention utilize different telephone numbers for ordering differentservices. A first telephone number is associated only with one availableservice and is advertised to the public in a specific forum, while asecond telephone number is associated with the one available service, aswell as another service. The telephone number associated with bothservices is advertised in a general forum. An Advanced IntelligentNetwork (AIN) service intercepts the service request calls associatedwith both telephone numbers and routes residential and businesscustomers to specific call centers.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, when a customer dialsone of the designated service telephone numbers, the AIN intercepts thecall and analyzes the called telephone number to determine whichservice(s) is/are associated with the number. Depending upon thetelephone number called, the AIN may query the customer if they arecalling for a first or second type of service. Subsequently, thecustomer is then queried if they are requesting residential or businessservice. The call is then routed to the appropriate service center forprocessing. In one embodiment of the invention, when the services areassociated with ADSL and ISDN services, a New Initiative and ProductCenter (NIAPC) processes all ADSL residential service requests whileregional BSCs process all others types of requests, based upon thelocation of the customer who initiated the service request.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, statusinformation regarding the types of requests for each telephone numberare collected and sent to a customer. The customer determines how theywant calls to be routed. The destinations determined by the customer arebuilt into a database which is used to route the calls to a selectedservice center.

In accordance with another embodiment of the invention, test calls areperiodically generated to determine the dependability of the networkrouting operations associated with the AIN interception service. Thesetest calls are not routed directly to a service center, and are notincluded in status information sent to the customer

Accordingly, a service provider network may dynamically control thetraffic to selected service centers, based upon the type of servicerequested, and the location of the caller requesting the service.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary and the following detailed description should notrestrict the scope of the claimed invention. Both provide examples andexplanations to enable others to practice the invention. Theaccompanying drawings, which form part of the description of theinvention, show several embodiments of the invention, and together withthe description, explain the principles of the invention.

In the Figures:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a telecommunications network, in accordancewith methods and systems consistent with the invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the steps performed for processing servicecalls, in accordance with methods and systems consistent with theinvention;

FIG. 3 is a table showing an exemplary abbreviated monitoring reportincluding limited service call status information, in accordance withmethods and systems consistent with the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a table showing an exemplary complete monitoring reportincluding detailed service call status information, in accordance withmethods and systems consistent with the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following description of embodiments of this invention refers to theaccompanying drawings. Where appropriate, the same reference numbers indifferent drawings refer to the same or similar elements.

In accordance with an embodiment of the invention, an AdvancedIntelligent Network (AIN) service is configured to intercept callsoriginating from calling parties and directed to particular telephonenumbers designated for processing service requests. Depending upon thetrigger number, the AIN may instruct a Service Switching Point (SSP) toplay an announcement asking a calling party to designate the servicerequested. If no response is receive, or an invalid response isreturned, the response is labeled as an invalid entry and is associatedwith a default service request for processing. Following a callingparty's response (or invalid response), a second announcement is playedasking the calling party to designate additional information associatedwith the type of service designated with the first response. Again, ifno response is received, or an invalid response is returned, theresponse is labeled as an invalid entry and is associated with a defaultservice request for processing. Depending upon the calling party'sresponses and calling party's location, the AIN may route the call toselected service centers, in order to control the traffic to overloadedservice centers.

FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of a telecommunications network thatprocesses calls for services provided by the network, in accordance withsystems and methods consistent with the invention. For illustrationpurposes, the services governed by a provider of the network will bedescribed as Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) and IntegratedServices Digital Network (ISDN) services, however it should be notedthat the present invention can be applied to a variety of services, andare not limited to the exemplary services described herein.

As shown, FIG. 1 comprises a wireline device 105, Public SwitchTelephone Network (PSTN) 110, Business Service Centers (BSCs) 115,Service Switching Point (SSP) 120, Service Transfer Point (STP) 125, NewInitiative And Product Center (NIAPC) 130, Service Control Point (SCP)135 and test call generator 140.

SSP 120 may include, for example, a 5ESS™, DMS-100™ (or DMS-200™),GTD-5™. As explained below in detail, SSP 120 is configured to receiveand route call requests from PSTN 110 originating from wireline device105.

Service control point 135 may include, for example, a AI-NET™,Integrated Service Control Point (ISCP™), or Service Builder™equipment/software manufactured or provided by Lucent Technologies,Inc., Telcordia Technologies, Inc., and Nortel Networks Corporation,respectively. SCP 135 instructs SSP 120 on what announcements to play,and where to route calls.

BSCs 115 are service centers each respectively located in particularregions, and process calls from all business customers and calls forISDN service. Although only six BSCs are shown in FIG. 1, it isunderstood that a plurality of BSCs exceeding six may be utilized in thenetwork.

NIAPC 130 is a service center that processes calls for residential ADSLservice.

Test call generator 140 is an automated testing tool that generates testcalls to verify SCP135's ability to invoke a service logic program inresponse to service calls being received at SSP 120.

FIG. 2 is a flow chart of the steps performed by the network illustratedin FIG. 1, when processing service requests for ADSL and ISDN services.Processing begins when a service customer, or calling party, calls oneof two telephone numbers designated for ordering a particular servicesuch as ISDN or ADSL. The call is received through PSTN 110, andautomatically directed to a designated switching point dedicated tohandling these types of service requests. Once the trigger number isencountered, SSP 120 launches a query message to SCP 135 (Step 200). Thequery message contains the CallingPartyId or ChargeNumber, and is routedto SCP 135 through STP 125. Once received, a Service Logic Program (SLP)is executed by SCP 135 that analyzes the query message and triggernumbers to determine what type of announcement is to be played.

Before call screening operations commence, SCP 135 determines whetherthe incoming call is from test call generator node 140 (Step 205). Testcall generator 140 is an automated testing tool that injects test callsinto the network, and monitors whether the test call is routed properlyfrom the calling party to SCP 135. Test call generator ensures the testcalls that include trigger numbers identical to those associated withthe services provided by the network, are received at SSP 120, andeventually invoke the SLP on SCP 135. If a test call was encountered,its receipt is confirmed with test call generator 140 (Step 207), andsubsequently the call is terminated.

In the event the incoming call was not a test call, SCP 135 analyzes thetrigger number to determine what type of query processing is needed forthe customer. This analysis is performed in order to reduce possibleprocessing operations performed by the SLP, thus reducing the load onthe network. In one embodiment of the invention, each type of serviceoffered is advertised in different forums. For example, the telephonenumber associated with ADSL service may be provided only to InternetService Providers (ISPs) for advertising. ISDN services are advertisedin any remaining forums, excluding the ISP forum. Other forumsassociated with a default product, such as ADSL service, may beimplemented as well. Accordingly, when the SLP analyzes the triggernumber and query message, it checks to determine whether the triggernumber is associated with the number only advertised by the ISPs (Step210). Calls made to the telephone number advertised by the ISPs arealready known to be ADSL inquires. Rather than confuse potentialcustomers with an ISDN option, these calls are processed by forwardingSLP operations to query the calling party for types of ADSL servicedesired (Step 220), as will be described later.

The SLP supports Numbering Plan Area (NPA) splits of the trigger number.Although it is not the responsibility of the SLP to convert and storeany calling party data from an old NPA to a new NPA, both of the old andnew numbers are accepted by the SLP and processed in the same manner.SCP 135 maintains an NPA split table that enables all NPA splitsoccurring in the North American Number Plan area to be tracked. Thetable is periodically updated to ensure that calls originating fromthese split areas are capable of being handled by the SLP.

Returning back to step 210 if the SLP determines that the trigger numberis not associated with ISP advertising, the SLP sends instructions toSSP 120 to play an announcement requesting the calling party to choosethe service desired, ISDN or ADSL (Step 215). There may be instanceswhere calling parties intending to order ADSL service, utilizes the ISDNdedicated telephone number. To ensure this situation may be handled bythe call screening operations of the present invention, the SLP providesthe option of ADSL service in the announcement. In one embodiment of theinvention, the announcement queries the calling party to select aspecific digit on wireline device 105 to indicate the service desired.For example, the announcement may be, but is not limited to:

-   -   “If you are calling for DSL service, press one. If you are        calling for ISDN service, press two”.

In the event the calling party chooses an invalid entry, or fails torespond, the SLP labels the response as an unknown response and forwardsprocessing to step 220.

At step 220, SCP 135 sends instructions to SSP 120 to play anannouncement that queries the calling party for a choice of business orresidential service, and collects the response to the query. In oneembodiment of the invention, the announcement queries the calling partyto select a specific digit on wireline device 105, to indicate the typeof service desired. For example, the announcement may be, but is notlimited to:

-   -   “If this service is for your home, press one. If this service is        for your business, press two”.

In the event the calling party chooses an invalid entry, or fails torespond, the SLP labels the response as an unknown response.

The present invention enables customers, whom are entities that own thecall centers and utilize the call center screening service provided bythe network, to designate the routing parameters for service requestcalls. These customers may include a Call Center Management (CCM) (notshown), and selectively choose how the calls are to be routed. Thecustomer specified routing destinations are collected by the network,and stored in a database. Table 1 illustrates exemplary routing optionsavailable to these customers. Depending upon the response from thecalling party (Step 225), and the routing destinations set up by acustomer, the SLP will direct the call to a particular designatedservice center.

As shown in Table 1, ADSL business requests are routed to be processedby an appropriate BSC 115. When SLP determines that a business DSLservice request is received (Step 230), the SLP determines how to routethe service request call based upon the location of the calling party(Step 240). The Calling Party Number (CPN) or Charge Number (CN)associated with the calling party initiating the service request iscompared to a table that contains a national listing of Numbering PlanAreas (NPAs) to locate the originating state. That is, the SLPdetermines from what state the calling party initiated the call. If nomatch is found, a default value is used, which may be associated withthe NIAPC. The SLP uses the results from the comparison to locate aregional BSC that has been previously designated to handle callsoriginating from a particular state and the call is routed to theappropriate BSC 115, as shown in step 245.

The routing of the calls to the correct BSC 115 is controlled in part bythe SLP. The SLP sends routing instructions to SSP 125 using telephonenumbers with a predetermined code value as the carrier. In oneembodiment of the invention, the telephone number will be a ten digitnumber with a four digit carrier code. It should be noted that aplurality of variations may be used for routing the call to a particularBSC, including varying the number of digits used as the routing numbers.

BSCs 115 may be assigned regionally depending upon the capabilities ofthe network providing the services. In one example, each state isassigned a destination telephone number, and BSCs associated with thestate and the destination telephone number receive calls originatingfrom that state.

When SLP determines that a residential or unknown ADSL service requesthas been received (Step 230), the call is routed to a single designatedservice center (Step 235). In the exemplary routing parametersillustrated in Table 1, all residential and unknown ADSL servicerequests are processed by a designated NIAPC, thus reducing the workloadon the BSCs 115. Accordingly, in step 235, the SLP returns instructionsto SSP 120 on how to route the call, and SSP 120 performs the routingoperations necessary to send the call to a gate at NIAPC 130. NIAPC 130receives the call and processes the service request. It is apparent thatsome calling parties that eventually get routed to NIAPC 130 mayactually wish to order ISDN or ADSL business services. At this stage,NIAPC 130 will have the capability for routing the call to anappropriate BSC 115, by sending the appropriate routing information toSSP 120, or for processing the service request at the NIAPC 130. Therouting operations depend upon a plurality of factors such as, forexample, the traffic load at NIAPC 130. Calls that are routed to NIAPC130 are terminated over a provisioned route index and sent with a DialedNumber Identification Service (DNIS) code. A percentage of calls mayalso be sent to a provisioned telephone number instead of the trunkgroup.

When SLP determines that an ISDN service request has been received (Step225), it performs further analysis to determine the type of ISDN servicerequested by the calling party (Step 250). The exemplary routingparameters shown in FIG. 1 indicate that all types of ISDN service areto be handled by an appropriate BSC (Step 260). As performed forbusiness DSL services, the SLP determines how to route the ISDN servicerequest call based upon the location of the calling party (Step 260).The Calling Party Number (CPN) or Charge Number (CN) associated with thecalling party initiating the service request is compared to a table thatcontains a national listing of Numbering Plan Areas (NPAs) to locate theoriginating state. That is, the SLP determines from what state thecalling party initiated the call. If no match is found, a default valueis used, which may be associated with the NIAPC. The SLP uses theresults from the comparison to locate a regional BSC that has beenpreviously designated to handle calls originating from a particularstate and the call is routed to the appropriate BSC 115, as shown instep 265.

As indicated previously, customers may adjust the routing parameters asthey see fit. That is, a customer may decide to route certain types ofISDN service requests to NIAPC 130. In this case, SLP would returninstructions to SSP 120 on how to route the call, and SSP 120 performsthe routing operations necessary to send the call to a gate at NIAPC130, (Step 255). NIAPC 130 receives the call and processes the servicerequest, as described with reference to step 235.

When SLP determines that the service request is unknown (Step 225), theSLP determines whether residential, business or an invalid response wasreceived (Step 270). The SLP determines where to route the call based onthe routing parameters set up by the customer, and the result from step270. The exemplary routing parameters shown in Table 1 show that unknownresidential and complete unknown service requests are defaulted to NIAPC130 (Step 275). Thus, when such service calls are received at SSP 130,and forwarded to SCP 135, the SLP routes calls to NIAPC 130 aspreviously described with reference to steps 235 and 255. Unknownbusiness calls are routed to an appropriate BSC (Steps 280, 285) basedon the caller's location, as previously described with reference tosteps 240, 245.

As with any of the services, customers may designate selected servicecenters to handle selected types of unknown service calls. For example,a customer, such as a CCM node may want all unknown service calls to behandled by NIAPC 130. In this case, the database reflecting the routingparameters shown in Table 1, would be changed to indicate the designateddestinations.

TABLE 1 Call Routing by Caller Selections Caller Selections ProductUsage Route by NIAPC Route by caller's state ADSL Residential X ADSLBusiness X ADSL Unknown X ISDN Residential X ISDN Business X ISDNUnknown X Unknown Residential X Unknown Business X Unknown Unknown X

As can be seen, depending upon the selection of the caller, specificservice centers will be selected as the destination for call routingoperations. In addition, each target telephone number associated withthe routing options listed above may have a designated secondary routingnumber, or route index with Dialed Number Identification Service (DNIS)code. Calls may be sent to the primary or secondary number based onpercentage distribution routing or transmission problems that may occurduring operations. For instance, a BSC in a particular state may have ahistory of experiencing a large amount of traffic in relation to otherservice centers. Accordingly, calls designated for routing theoverloaded BSC may be rerouted to a predetermined auxiliary servicecenter. Furthermore, the auxiliary service center may be selecteddynamically, based upon the current workload of a BSC, or the NIAPC 130as well. This process institutes versatility in routing service calls toan appropriate service center based on factors that affect performanceof the network, including errors and/or faults.

In the event an error occurs during AIN processing, the call will bereturned to SSP 120 for routing as dialed. In one embodiment of theinvention, SSP 120 ensures that calls that cannot be processed aredelivered to a designated default location, such as NIAPC 130. It shouldbe noted that a variety of service centers may be selected as backupsfor error processing, including multiple combinations of servicecenters, based upon the service relationship between SSP 120 and theservice centers, as well as the type of failure encountered. Forexample, in the event of an AIN failure, SSP 120 would only be able toroute calls to the service center it is serving. That is, if NIAPC 130is served by SSP 120, while BSCs 115 were not, SSP 120 would only beable to route a call to NIAPC 130 because it would not have thecapability to route the call beyond its locally served center.

In order to designate the proper auxiliary service centers, as well asmonitor the progress of the AIN call center screening operations, statusinformation is collected for each call that is processed. Trafficinformation is collected by monitoring predetermined operationsassociated with the call center screening process. For example, for eachtriggering number, a number of values are recorded by SCP 135, andstored in a database (not shown). The database may be used to sendmessages, such as electronic mail, to the customer for future analysis.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate reports that are generated by the AINprocessing network and distributed to the service centers and the CCM,for evaluation of traffic and service center screening operations. FIG.3 shows an abbreviated monitoring report that includes a number ofvalues measured during a preselected period of time. The time period formonitoring is flexible, and may be adjusted dynamically. For example,the values may be collected daily, weekly or monthly. FIG. 4 shows amore detailed report that includes additional values collected that arenot included in the abbreviated report illustrated in FIG. 3. Thecustomer analyzes the aggregated status information found in thereports. The information collected in the reports may be utilized toadjust the designations of primary or auxiliary service centers, as wellas provide an indication of how well the call screening process isperforming, so changes in hardware or call processing software may beimplemented. For example, referring to the routing parameters shown inTable 1, suppose a BSC located in the state of Pennsylvania wasoverloaded with business ADSL service calls from that state, while NIAPC130 was receiving low levels of traffic. A customer may recognize theneed to perform traffic balancing based on received status reports, andthus decide to change the destination of calls from this state to theNIAPC 130. In this case, the database storing the destinations for theservice calls would be changed to reflect the new destination. Referringto Table 1, this would change the routing parameters to reflect that allADSL service requests are to be sent to NIAPC 130. Subsequently, on thenext report, the customer may decide that NIAPC 130 was beingoverloaded, and another change in routing parameters would beinstituted. Accordingly, the present invention allows the call centerscreening procedures to be performed dynamically and selectively.

As described, systems, methods and articles of manufacture, consistentwith the present invention, allow overloaded service centers to berelieved of excess traffic by screening incoming service request calls,and automatically routing the calls to predetermined destination nodes,based on the trigger number of the call.

The foregoing description of an implementation of the invention has beenpresented for purposes of illustration and description. It is notexhaustive and does not limit the invention to the precise formdisclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teachings or may be acquired from practicing of the invention. Forexample, although ADSL and ISDN services were utilized to describe theoperations of the present invention, a number of different types ofservices may be implemented without affecting the AIN call centerscreening operations described above. That is, the type of service beingprovided by the network are not limited to the examples described above.Additional modifications and variations of the invention may be, forexample, the described implementation includes software but the presentinvention may be implemented as a combination of hardware and softwareor in hardware alone. The invention may be implemented with bothobject-oriented and non-object-oriented programming systems.Additionally, although aspects of the present invention are described asbeing stored in memory, one skilled in the art will appreciate thatthese aspects can also be stored on other types of computer-readablemedia, such as secondary storage devices, like hard disks, floppy disks,or CD-ROM; a carrier wave from the Internet or other propagation medium;or other forms of RAM or ROM. The scope of the invention is defined bythe claims and their equivalents.

1-46. (canceled)
 47. A method performed by an advanced intelligentnetwork (AIN) comprising: intercepting a service request call from acustomer for ADSL service or for ISDN service; analyzing a phone numberto which said call was placed to determine either (a) only said ADSLservice is being requested because said phone number corresponds to afirst trigger phone number or (b) either said ADSL service or said ISDNservice is being requested because said phone number corresponds to asecond trigger phone number; inquiring of said customer, if said secondtrigger phone number was called, whether said ADSL service or said ISDNservice is being requested; after performing said inquiring, furtherinquiring of said customer if said requested service is residentialservice or business service; if said requested service is said ADSLservice for said residential service, routing said call to a newinitiative and product center (NIAPC) for processing said call; and ifsaid requested service is said business service or is said ISDN servicefor said residential service, first determining in which State said calloriginated and then routing said call to a business service center (BSC)in said State for processing.
 48. The method of claim 47 furthercomprising: receiving data from said customer designating routingdestinations for calls made by said customer and storing said designatedrouting destinations in a database; monitoring said calls made by saidcustomer; and issuing reports of said monitored calls to said customerto allow said customer to perform traffic balancing by changing saiddata in said database.
 49. The method of claim 48 further comprising:routing said calls according to said designated routing destinations forall of said calls except for calls for said ADSL service for saidresidential service.
 50. The method of claim 48 wherein said trafficbalancing changes destinations of said calls, other than for said callsfor said ADSL service for said residential service, from saidoriginating State to said NIAPC.
 51. The method of claim 48 furthercomprising: if no response, or an invalid response, to said inquiring ofsaid customer is received, labeling said no response or said invalidresponse as a first invalid entry and associating said first invalidentry with a first default service request for processing.
 52. Themethod of claim 51 further comprising: whether or not said labeling isperformed, if no response, or an invalid response, to said furtherinquiring of said customer is received, labeling said no response orsaid invalid response to said further inquiring as a second invalidentry and associating said second invalid entry with a second defaultservice request for processing.
 53. The method of claim 52 wherein saidfirst default service request and said second default service requestare default-routed to said NIAPC for processing.
 54. The method of claim52 wherein said AIN interconnects with a plurality of BSCs, said methodfurther comprising: if an error occurs during AIN processing, deliveringsaid call to a designated default location selected from said NIAPC andsaid BSCs.
 55. The method of claim 54 further comprising: selecting avariety of BSCs as backups for processing said error.
 56. The method ofclaim 55 wherein said variety includes multiple combinations of saidBSCs.
 57. The method of claim 48 further comprising, determining if saidBSC has a history of experiencing a large amount of traffic in relationto other BSCs interconnected by said AIN; and if said BSC does have saidhistory, dynamically selecting an auxiliary service center to which saidcall is re-routed.
 58. The method of claim 57, further comprising:basing said dynamic selecting upon current workloads of said other BSCsand said NIAPC wherein said auxiliary service center is selected fromsaid other BSCs and said NIAPC.
 59. The method of claim 58 furthercomprising: utilizing said reports to: adjust designation of said NIAPCor said BSC as a primary service center; adjust designation of saidauxiliary service center; and provide an indication of effectiveness ofperformance of said method for purposes of implementing changes inhardware or call processing software, if needed.
 60. A computer-readablemedium containing instructions for controlling at least one processor toperform a method of routing a telephone call, said method comprising:intercepting a service request call from a customer for ADSL service orfor ISDN service; analyzing a phone number to which said call was placedto determine either (a) only said ADSL service is being requestedbecause said phone number corresponds to a first trigger phone number or(b) either said ADSL service or said ISDN service is being requestedbecause said phone number corresponds to a second trigger phone number;inquiring of said customer, if said second trigger phone number wascalled, whether said ADSL service or said ISDN service is beingrequested; after performing said inquiring, further inquiring of saidcustomer if said requested service is residential service or businessservice; if said requested service is said ADSL service for saidresidential service, routing said call to a new initiative and productcenter (NIAPC) for processing said call; and if said requested serviceis said business service or is said ISDN service for said residentialservice, first determining in which State said call originated and thenrouting said call to a business service center (BSC) in said State forprocessing.
 61. A computerized method, comprising: intercepting aservice request telephone call from a customer for a first service orfor a second service; analyzing a telephone number to which said callwas placed to determine either (a) only said first service is beingrequested because said telephone number corresponds to a first triggernumber or (b) either said first service or said second service is beingrequested because said telephone number corresponds to a second triggernumber; inquiring of said customer, if said second trigger number wascalled, whether said first service or said second service is beingrequested; after performing said inquiring, further inquiring of saidcustomer whether said requested service is a first type of service or asecond type of service; if said requested service is said first servicefor said first type of service, routing said call to a first servicecenter for processing said call; and if said requested service is saidsecond type of service or is said second service for said first type ofservice, first determining from which State said call originated andthen routing said call to a second service center in said State forprocessing.